Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 February 1910 — PICTURE BAFFLES SCIENCE. [ARTICLE]

PICTURE BAFFLES SCIENCE.

Itraas* Effect ITnconacloualy Secure* by PalWer es the Christ. A. remarkable painting, a representation of the Christ, exhibited at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exposition, was purchased by Dr. W. L. Wright of Washington, who has sent it about the country for exhibition at religious and other gatherings. The canvas has peculiarities for which neither chemists nor clerics can account. Viewed in the full light of day, it is a splendid religious picture of the usual type, but after nightfall or when the room is darkened the clouds in the background of the painting emit a vivid glow, which throws out the figure of the Christ and shines around the head like a halo, says the National. The artist did not himself discover this singular feature of the work until he had almost completed It. At the suggestion of a friend, a biblical lecturer, he had begun the work, but for some time felt dissatisfied, and at last put the painting aside. One day a new idea of the subject came to him and he at once resumed his painting and sought to convey his thought to the canvas; he felt that this time he was succeeding. One evening he entered the room and observed a peculiar light which emanated from the picture on his easel. Before him was the shadowy form of Christ, just as he had painted it, but It stood out against a background like a magnificent aureole, such as the artist had neither painted nor thought of. He decided that it would be sacrilegious for a human hand to make any addition, and the painting has been left incomplete. Chemists have sought to analyze, theologians have discussed, but the mysterious Illumination of the picture has never 'been satisfactorily explained.